Unveiling of the Coastwatchers Memorial Plaque
By Gerard Benjamin
The network of coastwatchers scattered across the islands north of Australia during WWII played a key role in slowing the Japanese advance and saving countless lives.
The work of this brave and intrepid band of individuals was given special recognition on August 10 at Newstead House, with a ceremony to mark the unveiling of a plaque on the Newstead Riverwalk.
Before a gathering of more than 60, including Councillor Julia Dixon, service personnel, and representatives of community and service clubs, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner performed the honours and introduced the main speaker, Dr Betty Lee.
She is a grand-niece of Naval Commander Eric Feldt who was instrumental in organising the network. His story is told in Dr Lee’s book, ‘Right Man, Right Place, Worst Time’.
Dr Lee explained that Commander Feldt’s mantra to these volunteers on the islands was, “Your role is to watch and report, not to fight”; hence, he named the network ‘Ferdinand’ after the protagonist of the children’s story, who avoids the ‘bull fight’.
Accompanying Dr Lee were 12 other relatives of Commander Feldt.
Master of Ceremonies for the occasion was local resident and author, retired Senator Brett Mason, who had a sobering personal connection. An uncle of his mother, 32-year-old Lieutenant Frank Barrett DCM, was a coastwatcher killed when captured by the Japanese.
Brett Mason’s 2023 book, ‘Saving Lieutenant Kennedy’, details the story of how Australian coastwatcher Reg Evans rescued the 26-year-old future president.
The plaque’s wording includes a remarkable endorsement from the prominent US naval commander during World War II, Admiral William F. ‘Bull’ Halsey: “The Coastwatchers saved Guadalcanal, and Guadalcanal saved the South Pacific.”
Also depicted are a submarine and flying boat (needed to deliver and rescue watchers where needed), while mention is also made of the teleradio by which coastwatchers could transmit coded messages.
The Newstead plaque joins several others around the Pacific which commemorate the work of these brave men, including the ‘Pride of Our Nation’ sculpture in Honiara in the Solomons (2021), and the 24-metre memorial lighthouse at Madang in Papua New Guinea which was dedicated to Australian Coastwatchers in 1959.
Its plaque bears the names of 36 Coastwatchers who were killed while carrying out their perilous duties: “They watched and warned and died that we might live”.
In July last year came the news that the last two WWII coastwatchers, Jim Burrowes (aged 101) and Ron “Dixie” Lee (100), passed away in Melbourne, remarkably within 12 hours of each other.
Commander Feldt and his wife Nancy lived at times in New Farm. Following their marriage in 1933, they resided at Marlborough Flats in Moreton Street, then later at Roseview Apartments overlooking New Farm Park.
It took considerable community advocacy to achieve this plaque for Brisbane. Newstead resident John Gates has been the longtime key campaigner for ‘Coastwatchers’ to take their place among the many memorials in Newstead Park.
There is something fitting about the fact that the new plaque is not far from the one dedicated to submariners.
As a book about this critical period for Australia during WWII eloquently states, “Submariners and coastwatchers developed a deep mutual admiration, since they had a lot in common.
“They were members of elite, unorthodox, and motivated forces. They operated far behind enemy lines.
“Cut off from support, they relied completely on their comrades. Their achievements were out of all proportion to their small forces.”
Photo caption: The plaque, which has been privately funded, is positioned on the gazebo 150m along the Riverwalk south of Newstead Park; Photography: Mark White
